Perspectives from ISB

“I lived my father’s dream of becoming a doctor and, in the process, it became my dream as well,” says Dr. Meinal Chaudhry, Director – Radiodiagnosis & Chief – Strategy, Branding, Digital Marketing & Corporate Communications, Aakash Healthcare. Meinal is an alumna of the AMPH Co 2019 at ISB.

Growing up, Meinal saw many doctors in the family and naturally became inclined towards this profession. As she treaded the path of medicine, she became passionate about radiodiagnosis and started heading that department at her family-owned business, Aakash Healthcare.

“I had been practising medicine for over eight years at which point decided to take the plunge into management education,” she says. The motivation and inspiration came from witnessing a transformation in her husband who had just finished the AMPH at ISB. Meinal explains, “When he came back from ISB, I felt a generation gap between his understanding of business and mine. He was able to see a problem with a 360-degree approach after the programme. The kind of perspective that opened for him motivated me to take up the one year of rigorous training at ISB.”

Meinal expected to gain a logical understanding of the concepts of management and business. However, she ended up transforming. “I completely changed as a leader, and more importantly, as a person. The positive change I have been able to bring to my business after evaluating the financial and strategic impact of my decision making has been immense. I can now segment my problems into smaller parts and tackle them one at a time. This understanding has come from the programme, and I am thankful for it.”

On a lighter note, she adds, “I keep applying the management fundas in my day-to-day life. So much so that my relationship with my kids, parents, and in-laws have also changed for the better.”

Reflecting on how the program has impacted her leadership style, Meinal says, “When I started, I thought I will add a lot of value into my family business and department at Aakash Healthcare. But after AMPH, I also became more emotionally intelligent. I went from being authoritative to being inclusive, from fault-finding to being solution-oriented. I started listening to my team’s comments and leveraging their expertise.”

Aakash Healthcare performed exceptionally well in terms of marketing and crisis management during Covid-19. Meinal explains how they leveraged the pandemic for their brand-building. “When the pandemic struck, we sat down and translated the learnings from the crisis management course at AMPH point by point. The framework of keeping employees on your side, communicating about your vulnerabilities, being empathetic, handling supply chains and whatnot were all implemented for Covid-19 management at our hospital. We even followed the learnings for media communications like a bible. In due course, Aakash Healthcare outshone other brands.”

On the occasion of Doctor’s Day, Meinal says, “Doctors are a very hard working and sincere tribe. But they lack street-smartness – a dire need of the present times. The AMPH programme brings out that kind of smartness in you. Even if you do not opt for a management course, make sure you keep on reading about management, law, strategy, operations, etc. and keep applying those in your life. Keep on doing the great work you always do, but, with the street smartness which you can get from a management course.”